Bonsai Tree Forum: Bonsai Basics

Are you at all creative? I think that most of us are, however, due to the ever increasing fast life style today we simply do not have much time to do the things we like that are creative. Bonsai Forum It is said that our brain is divided into two sides, at least as far as the aspect of thinking. I have also read that the right side of the brain is the creative side while the left acts as always the more dominate side, and will try to control everything you try to think of during any day. So the real secret would then be to try to turn off the left side and use only the right side and let it do what it does best and that is create. But let's get back to the question at hand and that is can anyone create a Bonsai? And I have to say yes unless you are totally disabled you can do this. Let's take a look at the basics of what you will need before you begin to create a bonsai. You should always pick a material that you can get excited about and have interest in. For instance I have always been interested in maples so that would most likely be my first choice. Let's say I picked Trident Maple because I have much interest in this material. Or perhaps because I have seen it created in a bonsai style. The point here is simply that you picked a material because you are really in love with it for whatever reason. The next thing that I would do is to read all the articles that I could find about this material and then I would make a trip to my local Library and find some books on bonsai that have articles in them concerning Trident Maple. Learn as much as you can about the material that you choose simply because you may find something along the way that would change your mind about your selection. By doing this little bit of home work before you start you can safe your self perhaps some disappointment in the long run. Once you have completed your selection for material then you can go out and search for a starter plant to begin your first Bonsai. I always recommend starting with pre grown nursery stock and I will most always select a plant that is of one gallon size if possible. I start with this size of plant simply because it will have already been grown and provided for at least one or two years and sometimes even longer. My next step after I picked a suitable plant material for my Bonsai would then be to go in search of a Bonsai pot for it. Now this is a matter of choice and a lot of Bonsai masters would even tell you that you need not even use a bonsai pot until you have trained your plant for many years. This makes perfect sense because if you were to follow the rules of Bonsai and plant the plant into a pot that you think looks good right now you would soon discover that you were wrong. And why would I be wrong you may ask? Well simply because you have already put your plant into a pot that may very well look fine right now but you have also at the same time already selected it's total confines. In other words give it time to grow in a much larger pot for a few years so that it will attain some good root structure and a good sized trunk and limbs. Then you can begin to work the plant down in size by trimming the roots back and the limbs where necessary. Once you have it in a preferred bonsai style that you like then transplant it to its selected bonsai pot and continue to train it in the style that you like. You will appreciate your Bonsai a lot more this way because you will have worked with it for a few years training and styling and you will also have learned a lot more along the way about the care of this material in general.